49ers’ Greg Roman is Penn State finalist

Greg Roman, the 49ers‘ offensive coordinator, is a finalist to be the next head coach at Penn State, a source confirmed Monday.

The news of Penn State’s interest in San Francisco’s first-year assistant was first reported by Tom Dienhart of the Big Ten Network.

According to the source, Roman interviewed for the job about a month ago and is awaiting a decision, which is expected to be made within a week. ESPN and USA Today have reported that Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien is the leading candidate to replace Joe Paterno, who was fired by Penn State in November in the midst of the child-sex-abuse scandal involving former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Roman has interviewed for at least four college head-coaching jobs within the past 14 months.

Roman’s agent, Mike Harrison, said his client was offered the job at Tulane University earlier this season, but rejected it based, in part, on the timing. Tulane wanted to make a hire quickly and Roman wasn’t ready to accept during the 49ers’ regular season. Tulane hired Saints wide receiver coach Curtis Johnson in early December.

Last year, Roman was among the three finalists for head-coaching jobs at Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt. Roman, who is in his first season as an NFL offensive coordinator, spent 2009-10 as an offensive assistant under 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh at Stanford.

Roman became the 49ers’ ninth offensive coordinator since 2003 when he was hired last January. The lack of continuity often has been cited as a reason for quarterback Alex Smith’s struggles, but Smith has flourished in Roman’s offense.

In the regular season, Smith established career highs in yards (3,150), passer rating (90.7) and completion percentage (61.4). He threw 17 touchdowns and five interceptions in 446 pass attempts. His interception percentage (1.1) is the third lowest in NFL history among quarterbacks with at least 400 attempts in a season.